After chasing out private security from the private owners of Zuccotti Park, the hundreds of protesters present were asked by NYPD to vacate the park. 25 protesters were arrested by the NYPD when they refused to obey the police request to vacate the park.

OWS is saying that this is the start of their 'Spring Offensive' which is supposed to build up to a major day of action on May Day (May 1) where they are calling for general strikes.

OWS violence also took place in other cities around the country, including St. Louis where OWS protesters disrupted the local St. Patrick's Day parade.

The media is continuing to try to paint the astroturfed alliance of Marxists, Anarchists, and Union workers (which is really redundant since the union workers participating are Marxists and Anarchists) as a 'grassroots' movement. In the Washington Examiner comes the exposure that OWS is just another of the usual run of 'Potemkin villages' that this country's left can't help but fall for....just as their leftist predecessors fell for Stalin's.

This is the message from the Obama Administration regarding their assault on religious freedom as the Friday night document dump included the HHS 'Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking'. This announcement reflects the Administration's focus to proceed as planned with the new federal mandate that abortion pills, sterilization procedures, and contraception must be provided without co-payment requirements under virtually all health care plans - permitting no opt out provisions for religious organizations that object on religious grounds to those services.

“No question in my mind that these — I call them the gas-hike trio — that those three are on a mission to drive up the price of gasoline and all energy so that they can finally get their solar and their wind to be more price-competitive. That's what they want to do,” Romney said in Illinois Saturday, according to The Los Angeles Times and other outlets.

The New York Post's editorial board also takes President Obama to task for his Administration's policies and regulations which are directly contributing to the soaring gasoline prices.

And instead of blatant political posturing, it would be nice if the administration embraced policies that might help dampen long-term gas-price fluctuation — and leave America less vulnerable to the vagaries of Middle East turmoil.

But no sign of that happening.

Quite the contrary.

Earlier this month, the US Senate voted on legislation directing the administration to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline Canada-to-Texas project.

The measure failed for one simple reason: President Obama twisted the arms of Democrats to convince them not to back it.

Previously, Obama blocked pipeline development in a sop to the environmental radicals who make up the Democratic base.

The problem goes beyond just the cancellation of Keystone XL or the concerns over the supply of oil coming from the Persian Gulf with the tensions regarding Iran. Despite SecEnergy Chu's repudiation of his former position that gasoline prices in the US should be similar to the prices in Europe - the policies of the Energy Department remain focused on ensuring that alternative energy becomes economically viable by higher prices on traditional fossil fuels as well as a drive for reduction of the use of fossil fuels in the name of global warming.

SecInterior Salazar continues to block and delay leasing of Federal lands for oil and natural gas drilling as well as advocating continued blocking of offshore / Alaskan expansion. The EPA regulations, also in the name of global warming, are forcing refineries to close. Reversing these policies are silver bullets that the President can use to stop the increase in gas prices...but that doesn't fit his agenda or the demands of his environmentalist base.

CNN, however, is rushing to the rescue of the Obama Administration with their 'report' on the issue by asking the question, 'Is it fair to blame Obama?'

What's most laughable about this item that could have been written by the Obama campaign is how it ignores that the President's FY2013 budget, released by the Administration just months after the debt deal was done - totally ignores the debt deal and increases spending well beyond the agreed upon limits.

“And he said he would not dwell on blame,” Hume said on Sunday’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday.” “I am surprised Tom Hanks could get that line out without coughing. This president is notable — and I mean look, politicians do this, this is not the biggest crime that ever happened — but this president has been notable … for blaming others. For the longest time, of course, it was former President [George W.] Bush who got all of the blame for the problems.”

Hume told viewers that the Obama campaign’s efforts to lay blame will give a bad impression.

“[Obama] will be judged [on] whether he finished and got us out of the ditches that we are in, in a number of ways, and I think that has to be what worries the president,” he continued. “And, of course, all the attempts to lay blame are politically foolish. They seem small, petty, weak. Winners take responsibility. Losers blame others.”

FNC remains one of the few mainstream media networks that is active with presenting information in a 'fair and balanced' manner. Doing so has created groups of people who despise the network. These range not only from the progressives and leftists in this country, but also our enemies like al-Qaeda.

Did America’s most wanted hate America’s most watched?” Gutfeld asked. “Well, bin Laden and crew had strong views about cable news. In particular, they hated Fox News. Yeah, the Washington Post, an actual paper, reports that the terrorist turd hoped for a big splash on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.”

Gutfeld’s take on the revelation: Al-Qaida sounds a lot like Media Matters, a group that has shown it is willing to go out of its way to marginalize the Fox News Channel.

“Sounds like that was written by Media Matters,” Gutfeld said. “It is so heartening to say they had feelings that were hurt by Fox News,” Gutfeld added. “It’s like they really didn’t like what we did.”

Gutfeld later suggested that the ill will some on the left have toward Fox News could be an indicator they’re on the wrong side. “It is weird,” he said.

Newsbusters.org, which highlights the liberal bias in the media, is asking a pertinent question about media bias as demonstrated by the decisions to not report certain newsworthy stories...

Originally highlighted by Jihad Watch, translated reports from the Middle East highlight an announcement made by the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia that calls for the 'destruction of all churches in the region'. Yet, none of the major news elements have picked up this announcement.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah is not just some random Muslim hating on churches. He is the Grand Mufti of the nation that brought Islam to the world. Moreover, he is the President of the Supreme Council of Ulema [Islamic scholars] and Chairman of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas. Accordingly, when it comes to what Islam teaches, his words are immensely authoritative.

Considering the hysteria that besets the West whenever non-authoritative individuals offend Islam—for instance, a fringe, unknown pastor—imagine what would happen if a Christian counterpart to the Grand Mufti, say the Pope, were to declare that all mosques in Italy must be destroyed; imagine the nonstop Western media frenzy that would erupt, all the shrill screams of "intolerance" and "bigot," demands for apologies if not resignation, nonstop handwringing by sensitive politicians, and worse.

Yet the Grand Mufti—the highest Islamic law authority of our "friend-and-ally" Saudi Arabia—gets a free pass when he incites Muslims to destroy churches, not that any extra incitement is needed (nary a month goes by without several churches being bombed and destroyed throughout the Islamic world). In fact, at the time of this writing, I have not seen this story, already some three days old, translated on any English news source, though "newsworthy" stories are often translated in mere hours.

Why wasn't this a story?

Today was the second day of deadly suicide car bombings in Syria. Yesterday, three suicide car bombs in Dasmascus killed 27 and wounded over 140. Today a suicide car bomb ripped through a residential neighborhood in Aleppo killing 2 and wounding 30. The violence in Syria against the Assad regime has now been underway for 1 year - and over 8,000 civilians have been killed.

1852 - Henry Wells and William G. Fargo join with several other investors to launch their namesake business Wells Fargo and Co. In July 1852, the company began shipping their first loads of freight from the East Coast to California via stagecoach - and also created banks in California to support the mining communities that were part of the California gold rush.

1915 - British and French naval forces launch a major attack on Turkish forces defending the Dardanelles. The attack was led by 10 battleships to bombard and destroy Turkish forts protecting the strategic waterway. 3 of the 10 were sunk by mines and 2 others were badly damaged as the attack failed. The failure of this mission led to the combined forces invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula in April.

1937 - A natural gas explosion in New London, Texas destroys an elementary school killing nearly 300. The school was built in the midst of a large oil and natural gas field - 11 derricks standing on the school's grounds. The blast was felt 40 miles away.

1942 - The War Relocation Authority is established in the US. The Authority was created to 'take all people of Japanese descent into custody, surround them with troops, prevent them from buying land, and return them to their former homes at the close of the war.' 120,000 Japanese were interned by the Authority - compared to 2,000 of German and Italian ancestry.

1950 - Troops from Nationalist China, based on Taiwan, invade the mainland of China capturing the town of Sungmen, about 200 miles south of Shanghai. The battle continued for weeks before the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China drove the nationalist forces off the mainland.

1962 - France and the leaders of the Algerian FLN movement sign a peace agreement to end the 7 year Algerian War - and ending 130 years of French colonial rule over Algeria.

About Me

I've been commenting on various blogs and subscription sites since early 2002 - adding my observations, thoughts, and musings on local, state, and national politics, national security, international relations, the economy, and other topics interest me. Until 2009, I was most active on LittleGreenFootballs before being driven off. Since then, I've been fighting idiotarians on BillOReilly.com and other sites...